Month: December 2009

The tournament was running about 45 minutes behind schedule, meaning this big-time game ended at 11 pm, past the newspaper’s deadline. We managed to squeeze in a couple paragraphs, but here’s the longer story I wrote for the web. It was a fantastic game with lots of momentum shifts — well worth the drive out to Antioch.

Wrestling fans are normally used to big Invitationals on Saturdays, but this week you’ve got a little different event to head out to. De La Salle, ranked No. 19 in the state as a team by thecaliforniawrestler.com, is hosting Vacaville, No. 9 in the state, at 7 p.m. in a big-time dual meet over at De La Salle.

The bona fides for these two teams are pretty clear, but in case you don’t know, De La Salle is the defending North Coast Section team and dual meet champion. Vacaville is Sac-Joaquin Section team and dual meet champion. And, you’re highly likely to see several guys who wrestle Saturday at the state meet later this year.

I was up in Sacramento today for the Holiday Classic All-Star Football Game at Grant and watched a pretty good contest featuring a ton of stud athletes. In the end, the East Bay and Sacramento settled for a 13-13 tie after a pair of overtimes. Despite cries from the fans to keep the game going, the decision was made to end it in a tie. Really, it wasn’t worth the risk to keep the game going and risk further injuries. It was a good display from both teams — especially on defense where both sides dominated — and despite the tie, both teams should feel pretty satisfied. The highlight of the game clearly was the 57-yard field goal kicked by Foothill’s James Langford with 56 seconds remaining to tie the game at 6-6 and force overtime. That was easily one of the most amazing things I’ve seen on a high school football field. It topped Langford’s previous career-high in a game of 48 yards (his best in practice is 63). Anyways, here’s the story I wrote for the paper.

The MaxPreps Holiday Classic in San Diego is one of the state’s best basketball tournaments of the year. Three local powerhouses (Bishop O’Dowd, McClymonds and Newark Memorial) are participating this year and you can catch the action live on KBCsports.com. Action opens Saturday at 1 p.m. when O’Dowd faces Leuzinger. That’s followed by Fairfax vs. Newark Memorial at 2:45 p.m. and McClymonds vs. Price at 4:20 p.m. Those games are all part of the National Division and each of the local teams is on the same side of the bracket. If both Mack and Newark win, they would meet in the quarterfinals on Monday.

The first big local invitational wrapped up yesterday in Brentwood, as champions were crowned at the Lou Bronzan Invitational. I wasn’t there this year, but I wanted to post the results so everyone could find them easily. Also, brackets are available at trackwrestling.com.Continue Reading →